Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Fuel Gauge lying! Is it everybody?

I have one of the first Contiques (built 9/1994) and the early ones (95 and maybe 96?) didn't have a "low fuel" warning light - I think enough managers in Dearborn running out of gas in theri company cars brought about that change

When I had the original gas tank, the fuel guage was very linear and reliable. After I had the gas tank replaced (recall, I only got one but some people had theirs replaced 2x...) my gas guage started behavin gas you described. The most annoying feature is when I'm cruising at constant speed on level ground, and only have a couple gallons left, it swings back and forth above and below the E line, below the red zone. (I have a red zone on my guage, I think that's another thing that disappeared at one point - saved $0.0037 a vehicle!)

It's been annoying, but I've gotten into the habit of filling up whenever it gets below 1/4 on the dial. If I let it get to dancing around the "E" I still usually have 2+ gallons left.

-Peter

I've always let it trip the light, then drive for about 20 more miles. Otherwise, I'd end up filling the tank more than twice per week.

edit: to be honest, my car runs a LOT better when I have less that 1/4 tank. Just seems more powerful. Sounds like the reverse of what other people observe.

I guess '97s don't have these low fuel lights. I've never seen one, and I'm looking at a spare cluster right now and there's not one anywhere on here.

I've got my tank low enough that I put 14.5 gallons in it, so I'm sure if there was a light, I'd have seen it on that occassion at least.

Believe it or not, most automotive fuel indicators act in a non-linear fashion by design. I would expect the Contour is not exeption. I worked at Visteon for a spell where we manufactured fuel delivery modules for Rangers and F-150s. My experience is that there is an algorithm that determines needle position based on input from the float mechanism. This algorithm takes into account several things: 1) it dampens fluctuations due to sloshing of fuel and 2) Customer's expectations--meaning a driver wants to see the tank as "full" for a while after filling up. Also, a half a tank gives the driver a feeling of security, so it tends to dwell there. Once the tanks starts to run down, it moves to "E" rather quickly, presumbaly to give the driver ample warning that fuel is getting low.

In other words, the behavior that is being described most likely is intentional...

The reason it feels more responsive is easy:

Gas is heavy... 14 gallons of fuel is a considerable wait gain for your car... the less fuel you have, the lighter your car is, the faster it will go. I like to autocross on less than 1/4 tank, cause it's as light as I can possibly get my car.

And part of the reason that the guage doesn't move for awhile after fillup is partly what path914 said, the float (which i honestly believe must be remarkably similar to the float in your toilet tank) can only go to the top of the tank.

But what does every single one of you do when you fill up? You top off. The pump handle doesn't shut off untill the gas is partway up the filler neck, which means the tank is more than full. Then you keep squirting more and more gas in there to get as much as possible to lengthen your time between fillups. That means you've probably got close to a gallon of fuel just in the filler neck that you have to burn up before the level in the tank starts to drop.

Agree/Disagree?

Peace

Jed